Powdered Peanut Butter!?

At the REDBOOK office, we have a "giveaway" table. Basically, any time we receive a book, cd, hand lotion, pillowcase, or whatever that we've either already written about in the magazine or don't plan to write about in the magazine (and the company doesn't want it back), an editor will put it on the giveaway table in case another editor has use for it.

Well, for days I walked past the giveaway table and saw this lonely little jar of what looked like wheat germ sitting there, unwanted. Finally, I stopped walking past it, and picked it up to see if I should just throw it out. (After all, sometimes one person's junk really is just junk.) Turns out, it was powdered peanut butter.

I smelled a culinary challenge, so I nabbed the jar. Turns out, later that very day I had a chance to try it. Kim and I got pad thai from the cafe downstairs, and it wasn't as full of flavor as we'd hoped. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off above my head, and I ran to my office for the powdered peanut butter. A hearty spoonful later, my pad thai was peanutty deliciousness, and Kim was reaching for the jar.

I took the product home, to try it out in other ways. Those peanut butter cookies I made a few weeks back? In place of two tablespoons of flour in the recipe, I added two tablespoonfuls of the peanut butter powder. Mmm, it gave the cookies an extra peanutty kick.

I'm still looking for other ways to use the powder to my cooking and baking advantage. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever make peanut butter out of it (though you can -- the label says to just add water). I'd rather use it as a peanutty power boost to other recipes. Got any ideas? If not, I'm sure I will -- and I will keep you posted.

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